Tipping and Catching
by cheese on Toast
Summary: -AU- He liked to tip back in chairs.


(Sadly, I don't own Naruto.)

**_he liked to tip back in Chairs._ **

* * *

"_You shouldn't tip back in your chair like that."_

"_Why shouldn't I?"_

"_You could tip back too far and smash your head into the ground or something like that. Totally destroy yourself. Send yourself into a coma. Trauma. I don't know how it fits in, but it seems like it'd go well with the other words, depression. You could be wounded for life."_

"_Isn't that a bit extreme, nii-san?"_

"_Isn't **life** extreme, Sasuke?"_

"_Ummm….you think I'd know? I'm only seven."_

"_Mm, that's true. Either way, you still shouldn't. You know why else?"_

"_Why else?"_

"_Because I just happen to be sitting right next to you, and, if all those things I mentioned before do happen, do you know who's going to be blamed for it?"_

"_The ground?"_

"_Me, you little numbskull."_

"_Oh! Really?"_

"_Well, I am sitting right here, and if you fall back, I think mother and father would be quite upset if I didn't catch you or anything."_

"_That's true. They probably would."_

"_So don't tip back in the chair, even if I will catch you."_

"_Yeah, yeah, yeah…."_

_He reaches out and shoves the chair forward, his brother nearly toppling over the table. _

"_Nii-san!"_

"_What?"_

"_That hurt!"_

"_Well, now you know."_

"_Yeah, I know, I know, I know…." _

* * *

"_You know, if you fall back, I'm not going to catch you this time."_

"_Yeah, yeah, yeah…."_

"_What, you don't take me seriously?"_

"_Well, I know that you're lying."_

"_I'm lying?"_

"_Of course you are."_

"_Can someone lie and not know it?"_

"_Of course! Involuntary reaction."_

"_Some big sentences for a seven year old."_

"_So?"_

"_Oh, nothing. What did you mean by what you said before?"_

"_Well, you say that you're not going to catch me, when I know perfectly well that, even if something horrible happened to you afterwards because what you did required you to defy law or something, you'd catch me."  
_

"_Mm….s'that so?"_

"_It is so! And if you did let me fall, Mother would yell, and so would father, and I know that you'd never let me fall anyways."_

"_You know that?"_

"_Of course! You're my brother!"_

_A slight grin falls over his face. _

"_Heh….you're right, Sasuke. You're right. I am." _

* * *

"_Sasuke, don't tip back in the chair like that."_

"_Oh, but, it's fun."_

"_I don't have the time to watch you today, okay? Don't tip back in your chair."  
_

"_But nii-san, I don't have to worry about tipping back in my chair!"_

"_What? Why?"_

"_Because! I know that you'll always be there to catch me!"  
_

"_I- I'll what?"_

"_You said so yourself! You said you'd catch me if I fell."_

"_Yeah, well….life doesn't always work out the way you want it to, Sasuke."_

"_W-What do you mean?"_

"_Oh, nothing. Don't tip back in your chair."_

_He slammed the door shut behind him and his brother fell back down onto all four legs with slam, giving the door he had disappeared behind a confused look. _

* * *

"_Don't tip back in your chair." _

"_Nii-san, we have this conversation every day."_

"_Don't do it, okay? It's dangerous."_

"_But fun!"_

"_Just because it's fun doesn't mean that there's not some danger to it sometimes. I know that."_

"_What do you mean?"_

_His eyes go wide for a moment, realizing the words that had accidentally spilled from his mouth before he could stop them. He shakes his head quickly, closing his eyes tightly. He walks towards the door, moving away as quickly and inconspicuously as possible away from his brother, who instantly bangs back down onto all for legs of the chair again._

"_Where are you going?"_

"_I've….got things to do."_

"_Nii-san….weren't you going to catch me?"_

"…_.."_

"_Nii-san?"_

"_Don't you think it's time you started living out of your illusion, Sasuke?"_

"_Huh?"_

"_I don't think I'm going to catch you anymore."_

"_W-What?"_

"_I'm too busy today."_

"_Then….then tomorrow?"_

"_Maybe." _

* * *

"'Just because it's fun doesn't mean that there's not some danger in it sometimes.' That's what you said. You meant it, didn't you?"

"Look, I don't really feel like talking right now."

He gives his brother a tense, horrified look with his sad black eyes. "Nii-san!" he reaches out, gripping the sleeve of his brother's shirt tightly so that he can't walk away. "Nii-san- why did you do that?"

His brother refuses to look at him. "Do what?"

"You know what!" he shouts, his voice becoming shrill as his eyes begin to fill up with tears again. "Why- why did you kill them all! Why! Why- why'd you kill everybody!"

His brother's eyes darken. "Because. It was like tipping back in a chair."

His eyes go wide. "H….Huh?"

"Tipping back in a chair. Balancing on two legs. You have to go backwards or forwards. I was tired of being pulled backwards by everything they said to me and everything that they made me do. I wanted to go forward.

"So I did."

"How can you compare murdering our entire clan to tipping back in a chair!"

His brother turns to him, shrugging out of his tight grip, giving him a weird look. "Why say that? Isn't that what you would do too, Sasuke?" he leaves at that remark, returning to his room as if nothing had happened and they weren't the only two living in the house anymore, the bloodstained, chalk-marked house that, even if he wanted to leave, he couldn't, because it feels as if his feet are nailed to the floor from all of his memories of everything.

"_You could tip back too far and smash your head into the ground or something like that. Totally destroy yourself. Send yourself into a coma. Trauma. I don't know how it fits in, but it seems like it'd go well with the other words, depression. You could be wounded for life."_

His brother had probably been planning it then.

And he hadn't had the sense to listen.

* * *

"_Don't tip back in your chair, Sasuke."_

"_Don't tell me what to do."_

"_Who else is going to?"_

"_No one. You killed them all, remember?"_

"_Then I'm going to tell you what to do."_

"_You're still going on about me tipping in chairs? I thought you would be just **honored **that I was being like you."_

"_It's not really an honor, Sasuke."  
_

"_Damn should be, after all the trouble you put me through."_

_His brother laughs softly, and, just to defy him again, he shoves himself back in his chair again, leaning back on the two back legs._

"_Well, I know one thing, Itachi."_

"_Hm? What's that?"_

"_You're a downright liar, and you were right when you said what you did. 'I don't think I'm going to catch you anymore.' You're **not** going to catch me anymore, are you?"_

_His brother laughs again. _

"_No. No….I might not."_

"_So I'm gonna tip back in chairs more often now."_

"_You do that."_

"_I really will. I'm not going to listen to you."_

"_Sasuke, before you know it, you could be tipping back endlessly in that chair of yours. Just because something's fun doesn't mean that it's not dangerous. "_

"_I know."_

_He gives him a horrible glare, because he knows that. He's known that for a long time now. _


End file.
